


Death Proof

by Merit



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-18 23:33:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2366057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merit/pseuds/Merit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peeta dies, Katniss lives. Everything doesn't change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death Proof

There could be only one Victor. The words rang through Arena and through Katniss’ bones until she felt they would be carved there for all eternity. Katniss stared in shock at Peeta, her lips parted. He smiled at her, ducked his head and kissed her. It took her by surprise, but then she kissed him back. This could be final kiss so she poured all her passion into it, clinging to his body, because it was warm and alive and Katniss just wanted to be held for the second. She had an idea – they could both take the berries, they could both die or they could both _win_.

Peeta drew back from her mouth and Katniss opened her mouth, lips still wet from the kiss and Peeta stole the berries out of her hand. Katniss watched in horror as he ate them, her hands clawing at his hand, his face, trying to get him to stop. She wailed, clutching his shoulders. They sank to their knees.

“No! Peeta, you can’t do this to me,” she said, her voice breaking on the words, because they were supposed to do this together. She had felt hope when that was announced, because she wouldn’t have to return to District 12 _alone_. Another Capitol lie.

He smiled at her. “I’ll always love you, Katniss,” he choked, falling to knees. She fell with him, landing on top of hi awkwardly, pressing frantic kisses to his face. Then Peeta died.

-

They took her first. And she’s spiralling away, her vision greying around the edges, and she can’t help screaming that they’re leaving Peeta behind and he needs help more than she ever could – a lie, of course, but not one she could admit then. Her blood was sliding through her fingers and she was clawing at her face, her hair, her voice growing hoarse.

The medics were wearing face masks – to better to – and their hands are all over her, holding her, pushing her down and Katniss twisted in panic, in agony and shrieked. She barely noticed them injecting her with something, a variant of morphling than made her lids sag and her energy leave her. Katniss rolled on her side and stared dimly at the people around her.

They’re rattling off words but she can’t understand them – blood loss, malnutrition – she can’t understand anything. Katniss sighed, deep and heavy, and started to cry. She can’t heave and scream, so the tears fall silently down her face, through the blood and muck. She thought they stung the marks on her face, but she wasn’t sure. Pain seemed so far away.

-

Katniss watched this happen, again, and she was shaking when Caesar turned to her, bright and glittering smile on his face. “Then you were announced Victor of 74th Hunger Games. It must have been quite the whirlwind of emotions.” The screen was frozen on Peeta’s face, his dead face, and Katniss couldn’t look away. “Katniss?” Caesar’s gaze flickered to the screen and he smiled knowingly. “Such drama!” His tone shifted, eyes growing large and sympathetic, “Such tragedy. You’ll be one Victor they won’t forget in a hurry, Katniss Everdeen.”

She almost laughed. Since winning hysteria seemed only a moment away. She bit the inside of her cheek instead and nodded jerkily. “I only hoped I could win. I never expected I would,” she said softly, looking away from Peeta and over to the audience. “I hoped that Peeta would be with me now.”

The audience sighed. She even heard a few muffled sobs. Katniss stared at them. They were barely visible beyond the stage lights. They didn’t seem human to her. She saw glimmers of gold, darkly painted lips and they thought she was _entertaining_.

After the interview, Haymitch stared at her for several seconds before shaking his head. “Well,” he drawled, his voice the only familiar sound of home now that Peeta was dead, “That could have gone worse.”

She couldn’t feel shame so she just stared blankly back at Haymitch. “I want to go home,” she whispered. She could see Cinna keeping back the other stylists – barely. Other than Cinna, they hardly even noticed that Peeta wasn’t here anymore.

He chuckled, low and bitter. “Home won’t be what you want it anymore, Katniss,” he said and met her eyes.

It hit her then, hard and sudden like a knife to the heart. Peeta’s parents were going to be there. How could they ever forgive her for not saving her son in time? Katniss clenched her hands, her short nails – all her stylists had been able to do her after the Games had wrecked them – digging dully into her flesh. His family, his friends, no one would have wanted her to win over him.

“Your sister won’t need to starve, though,” Haymitch said softly, watching her carefully. Katniss inhaled and nodded jerkily. A strange emotion seemed to flicker across his face. Katniss narrowed her eyes.

“What?” She said huskily and then cleared her throat. Haymitch seemed to hesitate.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said finally. “They don’t bother the Victors yet and you don’t need another thing to worry your pretty little head about.” He started to turn away and Katniss grabbed his arm. He turned and stared at her. After several seconds, Katniss slowly let go of his arm and looked blankly at the ground. She didn’t like what she saw in his eyes. “It’ll be better this way,” he muttered.

-

The train home was quiet. Katniss spent most of the ride home buried under her covers in her bedroom. Peeta’s room felt like a tomb, pressing against her even though she knew it couldn’t. She couldn’t cry, she felt icy cold even though the covers were thick and filled with goose down. Unbelievable luxury. She shook sometimes. She couldn’t forget they were taking Peeta’s body home. They had displayed him in the Capitol, his face still smeared with berries, his skin ashen and his hair filthy. They hadn’t even cleaned him up. Katniss had felt a flash of hatred and it took every nerve in her body not to leap out and scream. His parents must have been weeping, thinking of their son being desecrated like that.

They were an hour or so away from District 12 when Haymitch entered her room. She knew it was him, because he smelt like whiskey. He sighed deeply when he sank into one of the plush chairs that decorated her room.

After several minutes, Katniss poked her head outside of her covers and looked at him. He looked smaller, curled in on himself, a half empty tumbler in his hand. He was the same age as her parents; Katniss thought and wondered if they had been friends before Haymitch had been reaped.

“After the Victory Tour,” Haymitch started, then paused and finished his drink. “After the Victory Tour, Snow usually meets with the Victors. He has an offer for them.”

“What is it?” Katniss whispered her voice cracking. She didn’t remember the last time she had drank anything. She couldn’t think of doing anything when Peeta was alone and cold, dressed in white linen, finally clean, at the back of the train.

“Sometimes it is just congratulations,” Haymitch said, his mouth twisting.

“What did he offer you?”

“Nothing,” Haymitch said, breathing out heavily. “There was nothing he could have offered me.”

Katniss gripped the covers tightly, remembering that Haymitch’s family had disappeared – using Peacekeeper talk. “What will he offer me? He’s, they’ve taken so much already,” she choked out. Peeta smiled to her, berries coating his lips and Katniss deeply regretted not kissing him, not brushing her lips against his, and making sure there was no Victor.

“Oh darling, the Games are just the beginning,” Haymitch said. Katniss wanted to scream at him but he sounded so sad, so broken. He had come home with three tributes rocking in the train, she thought, three families to weep and tear at their hair. Instead she shivered, feeling dread and cold at once. “This happens to the pretty ones, the exciting ones,” Haymitch stared at her now; his grey eyes reminding Katniss of the cold dawn when miners would be leaving their homes. “And you have the sorry fate of being both. Snow will want you to fuck his favourites.”

For a moment Katniss just stared at him, utterly stunned. She sat up straighter. “I don’t have a choice?” Katniss asked her voice very small. She had never imagined marriage. Not under the Capitol. This wouldn’t be marriage, she thought darkly.

Haymitch sighed, deep and gustily. “You can say no.”

“I can?”

“You remember Johanna Mason?” Haymitch said, standing up and staring at the landscape flying past. Katniss blinked and then slowly nodded her head.

“She won a few years ago?” Katniss offered. She tried not to pay attention to the Games, but she couldn’t help but remember the vicious girl from District 7. They had certainly replayed her hacking at the other tributes enough.

“She said no,” Haymitch said. “She laughed in the face of Snow and said she’d rather be dead. Her family was dead that night.”

Katniss’ vision greyed. “They killed her family – they would kill Prim,” she bit her lip until blood ran down her chin, staining the brilliantly white Capitol sheets. She hardly noticed until Haymitch stalked over to her and roughly shook her shoulder.

“You can say no,” Haymitch said, “You can say yes. I’m trying to work out something in between those two, understand? But you needed to know. No one told Johanna fucking anything and she thought she could just laugh in Snow’s face and nothing would happen.”

“I can’t let Prim die,” Katniss said desperately. She had volunteered as tribute for Prim. Prim needed her. Katniss needed Prim.

Haymitch gave her a hard look, the rest of his expression beyond Katniss. “I know,” he said. “The whole Capitol knows. They’ll use that against you. But maybe you can use it against them.”

Katniss stared at him blankly. She sank back into the goose down pillows. Haymitch sigh heavily, resting on one foot and then other. He watched for several seconds and then left, muttering about getting another drink.

-

Even when you won, there was always going to be grieving family in your District, Katniss thought. After Haymitch had left, Cinna had quietly entered her room and dressed in her warm wools. They were finer than anything Katniss had seen before coming to the Capitol, but by Capitol standards they were dull, boring. Cinna’s eyes had run over her bloody lip and he had sighed, running a gentle hand on the back on her head. Katniss had leaned into his touch, sighing deeply.

“Just a bit of gloss,” Cinna had murmured and while the gloss had stung when he had glided it across her lips, her lips soon numbed slightly. Katniss nodded her thanks at Cinna. “The least I can do,” he said, warm eyes crinkling when he smiled at her.

District 12 seemed different when the train rolled in. Maybe it was because of the crowd. Katniss had never had so many people, her people, staring at her. They had been watching her for weeks though, she considered. First during the interviews, then the Games, they had seen her offer the berries to Peeta, be silent when it _mattered_ and then survive. Katniss swallowed thickly, suddenly wanting to be back at the Capitol, where at least no one _knew_ her.

They weren’t cheering. Prim and her mother were at the front, right next to the Mayor. Prim was smiling. Katniss stepped off the train and the smells of District 12 hit her hard. The coal dust was ever present, the distant smells of the forest and muck that never washed away. Katniss felt fear creep up her spine and it was only Haymitch nudging her that made her step forward. She couldn’t see Gale, she thought, her eyes scanning the crowd. He wouldn’t have work, everyone got the day off when a Victor came home. It wasn’t something Katniss had ever experienced, but she _knew_.

The rest of the day passed in a haze. She thought she spoke at some point, but she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until she was heading home, the crowds slowly dissipating around her, their curious eyes running over her new clothes, her bloody hands – that Prim tugged at her jacket.

“Home is this way,” she said softly, tilting her head left. Katniss stared blankly at Prim for several seconds. “We live in the Victor’s Village now,” Prim said, “They moved us after you won.”

“Oh,” Katniss said. “They’ve been treating you right?” That seemed most important.

“We have all the grain we want now,” Prim said, her hand slipping into Katniss’. “Peeta’s father gave me a loaf on the day you won. He looked like he had been crying.”

Icy daggers seemed to stick into Katniss’ heart. “He did? I should thank him, I guess,” she said. She remembered Peeta telling her his father thought she could win. She supposed he was right in the end.

Prim shook her head. “He said it wasn’t necessary,” she murmured, watching Katniss carefully.

“I see,” Katniss said, feeling absurdly grateful.

-

She didn’t have class anymore. School had been designed to prepare her for the coal mines and now that she would never have to go beneath the surface, apparently there wasn’t much point in going there. She was supposed to develop a skill however.

“What’s yours?” She asked Haymitch. They were at his house in the Victor’s Village because Katniss couldn’t bear her sister, his mother hearing what she might be forced to do.

“Me?” Haymitch said, a glass of District 12’s finest in his hand. Even from her position Katniss could smell the pungency. “I never did have to do anything,” he said thoughtfully, his gaze rolling over her. “They didn’t have leverage with me.”

“I don’t have anything,” she said flatly, looking outside. They might like it when she gutted a tribute, but she can’t see them exclaiming with joy if she showed them how to skin a rabbit. “Nothing that the Capitol would want.”

“Ah, well,” Haymitch said, his eyes looking deeply at hers, “You have time. They’ll foist something on you if you leave it however. I believe one of the Victors from District 3 was given pottery. He was missing a few fingers which made things awkward. Interesting works though,” Haymitch added.

It wasn’t far back to her home but Katniss walked slowly. She still hadn’t seen Gale. She had dropped a pheasant by his mother’s house. Apparently he was out of school and in the mines now. His wage, pitiful as it was, would hopefully mean his siblings wouldn’t have to take tesserae. Katniss promised herself that she would drop by more food, even if Gale wouldn’t see her face. Madge had smiled at her in the street, but then she had hurried away as if she was afraid to be seen with Katniss.

She still wore the mockingjay pin. At night she caressed the figure, remembering how Madge had given her it. She had thought she would never Madge again. She wondered if they truly had been friends, or if Madge had just felt sorry for her, thinking she was going to die.

No one mentioned Peeta to her, not even Haymitch. Sometimes she thought they had all forgotten about him. His mother would walk past her, eyes never leaving the space in front of her. She was a hard woman, but you had to be in District 12, to survive.

If it weren’t for Prim – and her mother, Katniss thought, but only because Prim would miss her – Katniss would have grabbed a bag and ran into the woods. It was harder and harder to slip into the woods these days. Peacekeeper patrols were up. Maybe they would finally find the energy for the fence, Katniss thought. There would be no squirrel meat then, or turkey. Things would get even harder. She hunted even harder, delivering meals to Gale’s door even though he was never there, never said thanks.

On the day that she was leaving for the Victory Tour, Katniss was walking home, her hands empty after another drop off at Gale’s home. She started and whirled around, hands rising defensively in front of her when she heard her name being called.

“Katniss,” Gale said. He was covered in coal dust. You could barely tell he had a shock of brown hair under the grime, his grey eyes were accusing. She had never seen grey eyes like his, like hers in the Capitol. It was particular to District 12. “You shouldn’t be doing that.”

“You said you wouldn’t let Prim starve, if I didn’t come home,” Katniss said, crossing her arms across her chest. “I came home, but I’m not letting your siblings starve.”

He sighed heavily, as if he was disappointed in her and Katniss’ eyes flashed. He walked past her and Katniss wanted to reach out, grab his arm, yank him down to her mouth and _scream_.

Instead. “Gale,” she said quietly. “Please.”

He kept on walking. And then. “Katniss,” Gale said, turning and facing her.

Katniss smiled nervously.

-

The Victory Tour was awful. Katniss had never paid any attention to the Victors when they had visited District 12. She has usually been in woods with Gale, both of them taking advantage of the fact that most of the Peacekeepers would be occupied with keeping District 12 corralled. She liked it even less now that Districts were going to stare at her, know that she had failed Peeta.

She fumbled through the lines Effie had given her. There’s silence after her last words come out. District 11 was thin, thinner than Katniss had thought they would be, considering they were the grain District. Katniss stared across the crowd, meeting Rue’s eyes again. It tore at her, seeing Rue’s siblings huddle and cry together, her mother standing tall and straight but Katniss imagined she could see her lips quiver.

The words rushed out of her. Rue had reminded of her Prim and Katniss had cried many times thinking of her small body, dead. She couldn’t just leave it there.

The hands of District 11 rise, the salute from District 12. Katniss choked back tears and then a scream when the Peacekeepers rush forward and –

The door slammed. But Katniss shook when she heard the gun go off. They weren’t supposed to, they weren’t supposed to, they wouldn’t have done this in District 12, she thought desperately. Her hands were shaking, her body limp and she was easy for Haymitch to drag her away.

“What do you think you were doing out there?” He said, his voice low. The crowd outside was screaming.

“She died,” Katniss said, eyes terrified. “I couldn’t, I couldn’t just.” She shook her head.

Haymitch’s lips are a thin white line. “You’re going to have to if you want your family to survive, if you want to live.”

-

Katniss was fighting every instinct to run when Johanna Mason walked up to her and passed a green drink to her. Katniss started, almost spilling the drink down her palm. Johanna rolled her eyes and murmured, “Relax. I’m not going to bite,” she smirked, showing off her white teeth. The Capitol must have whitened her teeth as well, Katniss thought, she never saw white teeth like that out in the Districts. “It is a just a lemon ginger drink. Not even a touch of alcohol.”

She took a careful sip. It was sweet and tart. “Thank you,” she said, thinking that Johanna’s family had been killed because she said no. Snow had made it clear that she was to meet him soon. Apparently someone would come for her. Katniss started to shake. Johanna gracefully took the glass out of her hands and finished the drink. It left her mouth wet. She licked her lips, slowly, and with her eyes on Katniss.

“Haymitch has told you, hasn’t he?” Johanna said quietly. Her eyes were dark and knowing when she turned her gaze on Katniss. Katniss flushed and looked away. “He’s an old gossip, always poking his nose where he doesn’t belong,” Johanna said confidently. “But you did need to know.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Katniss whispered, and Johanna nodded, no further explanation needed. “I’ve never, I’ve never. I’ve never wanted children,” she finished, because she couldn’t say anything more.

“Me too,” Johanna said, voice light, eyes serious “Not that we usually get much choice about that.” She rolled the empty glass her hand, her eyes scanning the crowd, gaze flicking from a woman with an enormous purple wig that cradled an old fashioned ship to a sylvan young man twisting on the dance floor. “You know Finnick Odair?”

“The Victor?” Katniss said, suddenly hating herself for not knowing more about the Games, the Capitol. Maybe if she had paid more attention in the past, she would be flailing so much now. Peeta would have handled this better, she thought suddenly. He smiled at the crowds, made the Capitol fall in love with him, made even Katniss seem human. He would know what to say to Snow.

“The Victor,” Johanna agreed. “He said yes to Snow. He’s become the Capitol’s favourite.” She wrapped her arm around Katniss’ waist and Katniss sharply inhaled. She tried to turn her head, but Johanna had already propped her chin on her shoulder, they were cheek to cheek, their breath intermingling and she froze. Johanna’s breasts were pressed against her back and Katniss had never been this close with another girl before. It was different, compared to Peeta. “See him over there? The handsome guy with the flock of Capitol users around him? He was only fourteen when he won his games, remember. They devoured him, I’m told.” Johanna’s voice was heavy with disgust.

Katniss jerked her gaze away from Johanna and looked. Finnick Odair was the kind of handsome that hurt, but maybe that was because Katniss now knew what he had to do. She swallowed. “That’s what he wants me to do,” she whispered, remembering how Snow’s eyes had pinned her to the spot when he raised his glass to her. He would like her dead, she thought. But he would use her first.

Johanna laughed dark and low. “Haymitch hasn’t told you shit, has he?” She said amusedly. She sobered, “I suppose that’s for your own good. Can’t have the precious rebellion princess knowing too much. It’ll ruin your act.”

“There’s no rebellion,” Katniss whispered, licking her lips. Fear crept through her.

“If you say so,” Johanna murmured, but Katniss could feel Johanna’s smirk against her ear. Johanna kissed her cheek, eyes dark and shiny and Katniss wanted to ask her – _everything_. Wanted to pull her back in, because she missed being held, she had only had Peeta in the Arena but. She still missed it.

But instead a slim man, relatively plain by Capitol standards, was beckoning her forward. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. Katniss stilled and turned cold.

Snow wanted to see her.

-

Snow’s room was quiet even though the party still raged outside his mansion. The glass windows were very thick and heavy curtains shrouded the walls. He was fussing behind a desk, wasting her time because he could. The room was heavy with the smell of roses and blood and Katniss felt like she was going to suffocate. She wished she could open a window. Katniss kept sliding her palms up and down her thighs. Her hands were sweaty and she hated her dress because was more glimmer and jewels than actual fabric, so she just felt slick and uncomfortable.

“You’re very popular,” Snow said and Katniss winced even though his voice wasn’t loud.

“Am I?” Katniss stuttered. Snow watched her and she had to look away. She wanted to chew her nails raw, get rid of the black sparkly polish that adorned them. Her stylists would cry a fit. “I didn’t mean to.”

Snow laughed, quiet and mocking, “I can almost believe that, Katniss Everdeen.” He stood up and walked around her. He leaned in, sniffing at her hair. Katniss felt a wave of blood, sickly blood, rotting blood and bit her tongue hard to keep from gagging. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking and they shook harder when Snow picked one up and pressed a wet kiss against her palm. “You’re everyone’s darling,” he murmured and Katniss couldn’t move, not under his snake like gaze.

“I don’t want to be,” Katniss breathed, not blinking, because she couldn’t when a predator was watching her.

“Oh that I can believe,” Snow murmured. He dropped her hand and thudded softly against her thigh. Katniss brought it close to her belly and averted her gaze. “And what do you want, Katniss Everdeen?” She doesn’t like how he said her name, like she’s amusement that’s trying his nerves.

She doesn’t know what to say. Everything she wanted. She wanted to never worry about the Capitol but she’s here and the President was looking at her with a smile on his face, even though it was sour at the edges. “I just want to be normal,” she whispered, because she couldn’t think of what to say, because everything else seemed like a threat.

Snow laughed and Katniss flinched. “Oh child,” he said. “Is that all?” Katniss didn’t change her expression. She only nodded. “Well,” he said, walking over to a side table and pouring a glass of wine. It had a thick scent, mixing with blood and roses. “You want a quiet life?”

“Yes,” Katniss said quickly. “I’m too... provincial for the Capitol,” she said, smiling, though she felt ragged doing so.

“Just a simple District 12 girl,” Snow said thoughtfully, eyeing her over his glass. He swallowed half his wine and from her angle his mouth looked like a chasm. Katniss closed her eyes.

“That’s me,” she murmured and took a steadying breath.

“A pity about that Mellark boy,” Snow said casually. Katniss choked and looked over to him. His lips were red from the wine and she shuddered when he licked his lips. “The Capitol would have welcomed such a sweet boy with open arms. But you’re not a sweet girl,” Snow said, tilting his head to one side and examining Katniss. “Oh a sweet act but without Peeta as support, do you really think you can keep them all on your side?”

“He should have lived,” Katniss bit out. “I was, I was,” she closed her eyes.

“You were going to take the berries?” Snow said. “You were too slow.”

“Yes,” Katniss said. She dreamed of it, sometimes. Taking the berries. It was better than dreaming of Peeta dying. Peeta would have been loved, she thought. Her mouth soured when she realised how he would have been loved. Peeta would have hated that. He would have hated them for using her body. “I was going to take the berries,” she said. Snow was watching her carefully. She wondered if he had guessed that she was going to ask Peeta to take the berries with her. To fuck with the whole idea of the Games, just as they had fucked her.

She looked away.

-

She left his office with tears streaming down her face. She stumbled back to party, tripping over her pretty dress. She felt seams rip and hiked it up. She didn’t understand how people got anything done with heaps of fabric around their legs. The edge of party was dimly lit. Katniss heard a man moaning and blushed hotly. Pausing, she wiped her blotchy face. The man was certainly enjoying himself, she noted critically. Back home they wouldn’t have cared for this wantonness, not with your neighbours only a hop and a skip away.

“Katniss,” Haymitch called. His face was dark and when he was close, she smelt the strong scent of Capitol liquors. His gaze was steady and the hand his placed on her elbow was gentle. “What did he do to you?” He asked quietly, his eyes running across her.

“He said I could go home,” Katniss whispered.

“Ah,” Haymitch said, stepping back. Katniss crossed her arms across her body and looked away. “And that’s – ”

“That’s all,” Katniss murmured. “We only talked.” There’s a roar of laughter from the party, soon joined by tittering and giggling. “We should go back to the party.”

-

Katniss was burning. Her face was hot, her head felt impossibly light and her limbs seemed to float around her. Everything seemed so amusing. She couldn’t stop laughing. Everyone always joined in. Katniss danced.

Always, always at the corner of her eye, Haymitch was a dark smudge, quietly drinking. He kept on watching on and finally Katniss wandered over to him. “You should join me,” she said, holding out a hand. She couldn’t seem to keep it steady. Katniss frowned at it and then waved it in front of her face. A dozen hands appear, half shimmery and ghostly in the half light at the edges of the party.

“You haven’t been dancing,” she breathed, blinking as the hands faded.

Haymitch smiled ruefully. “Someone’s got to stay sober,” he murmured, with a wry twist to his mouth. Katniss laughed. “Not sure if that’s supposed to be funny, sweetheart.”

Katniss slumped. “Everyone said I was funny,” she said, peering over to the crowd. They had grouped around another Victor, someone from District 1. “I should have guessed they were all lying,” she said. “No one has ever accused me of being funny.”

“It’s the drink,” Haymitch said. “One of the many Capitol specialities. It passes quickly once you stop drinking though,” Haymitch said. “And of course you’ll have a wicked hangover tomorrow,” he added cheerfully, as if he was looking forward to it.

It seemed quiet here. “Johanna said you haven’t told me shit,” Katniss said lightly.

“Johanna’s a nosy girl,” Haymitch said, frowning. Katniss opened her mouth and Haymitch roughly shook his head. “You don’t want to talk about it here.” He patted Katniss on the shoulder and she shook. The heat was leaving her and the night air sent shivers up her arms. “You’re going home,” Haymitch said, looking down at her. “There will be more time then.”

“Home,” Katniss repeated. She looked lost. “But Peeta...”

“He’s home now,” Haymitch said roughly, clenching his hand around the delicate flute in his hand. The crystal sang in protest but Haymitch had relaxed his hand before it broke. Further away, the crowd had quietened. Haymitch frowned, looking over Katniss’ shoulder.

“We’ll go home,” Katniss said, staring up at the night sky. It looked different here, in the Capitol, than it did back home. Like the night sky was a blanket and it had been tossed to straighten it. “It’ll be good to be home.”

“Katniss,” Haymitch whispered, because there were Peacekeepers walking over to them, slow and in a gentle arc. His eyes flickered from one side of the wall of Peacekeepers to the others. Katniss was smiling gently. “What did Snow say to you?”

“He said I could go home,” Katniss said. She looked up. “But he said he was going to take Prim,” her voice broke, tears welling in her eyes.

The Peacekeepers were almost on top of them. The party was eerily quiet behind them, lined up like the most colourful circus. Haymitch stared at Katniss, his jaw working for a few moments before he shook his head. He leaned forward, resting a hand on Katniss’ shoulder.

“Remember the mockingjay,” he whispered, before two Peacekeepers yanked him away from Katniss. Katniss watched open mouthed, tears turning cold.

The Peacekeepers took her away.

She didn’t scream.


End file.
